Read Danger at Dahlkari for Free Online Page B

protective leaves to diffuse their strength.
    â€œI explored a bit earlier this morning,” Sally told me, leading the way around one of the immense boulders. “I—well, I crept about with the gun clutched in front of me, just in case they’d left someone behind. Took a lot of nerve, I don’t mind telling you. Miss Lauren—”
    â€œYes?”
    â€œI couldn’t find it. The—the place where the hole had been. There was no hole, nothing that looked like there had been. They left no signs whatsoever. As far as the world is concerned, the caravan just—vanished, just like hundreds of others before it.”
    â€œIt’s incredible to think this has been happening for centuries and no one has been able to do anything about it until Captain Sleeman came along. It—staggers the imagination.”
    â€œI know,” Sally agreed. “I read that book by Captain Taylor, and it fair gave me the shudders. I read all those dreadful accounts in the penny press, too, each more lurid than the next, some of ’em with drawings. The Indians seem to have just ac cept ed it, traveling at their own risk, and if someone failed to return from a journey, their folks just took it as fate, rarely making inquiries.”
    â€œOf course, there’re no proper roads, no trains—at least not yet. That has a lot to do with it. The Indians have a different way of looking at things. Because of their religious beliefs, life here and now doesn’t have as much value as it does to us. Something like—like what happened last night could never take place in England. The criminals would be hunted down until every last one of them had been caught and hung. Here in India.…” I paused, noting the expression on Sally’s face.
    â€œThat smell,” she remarked, wrinkling her nose. “So sharp, almost like pepper. Those little seeds scattered over the ground.…”
    â€œFleawort,” I said. My cheeks grew pale.
    â€œMiss Lauren, what’s wrong? You look—”
    â€œThat’s what they use—the Thugs. Kali—Kali commands them to scatter fleawort seeds over—over the graves, supposedly as a token to her. It has a very useful purpose, too. It keeps the jackals away, keeps them from digging up the ground to get at the—”
    I couldn’t go on. Sally looked as horrified as I, and we quickly made a wide circle around the stretch of ground scattered with seeds. Neither of us said anything else for at least a quarter of an hour. By that time we had passed through the area of boulders, had skirted the tip of the jungle and were moving east, the jungle to our left, to our right a seemingly endless expanse of desert sand broken only by occasional clusters of rock. Although it was still morning, the heat was already intense, the sun a fierce yellow ball. Heat waves filled the air like barely visible gas. Our large leafy parasols kept off the direct rays of sunlight, protecting faces and arms, but they did nothing to alleviate the extreme discomfort. Nice English girls weren’t supposed to perspire, but Sally and I were already perspiring freely, hair damp, bodices clinging wetly.
    â€œI’m beginning to dislike this country,” Sally confessed as we trudged along. “I mean—well, those handsome Sepoys were adorable, and I dearly loved all those gorgeous marble palaces and things. The nautch dancers were interesting, too, and those cows running loose all over the place, but I can’t say that I care for the cli mate.”
    â€œIt’s not this bad everywhere. This is desert, after all.”
    â€œWhat wouldn’t I give for a nice cool drink of water.”
    â€œMaybe—maybe we’ll find a well. Best not think about it.”
    â€œBest not,” she agreed.
    â€œYou’ll like Dahlkari,” I told her, hoping to divert both our minds from the thirst that was already such torment. “Dollie